Norovirus and snowboarding

The Easter holidays have started, but I've been trying to keep working because otherwise I have the capacity to waste the whole day on fiddling about doing not very much.

On Monday I created my informative leaflet on norovirus, aimed at passengers on cruise ships. Norovirus, or Winter Vomiting Disease, is "a contagious disease that is spread by contact with an infected person, by touching contaminated surfaces, or by consuming contaminated food or water." It causes diarrhoea and vomiting, so you can see how it ties in with our Wednesday morning lecture ordeals. Confined living environments like hospitals, schools and cruise ships are vulnerable because it's so hard to clean up.

I had thought of giving the leaflet a background image that gave the impression of speckled vomit, but when I Googled 'vomit' I changed my mind. Instead, it's got a background image of a ship and a picture of the norovirus itself. I was just working out how to save it as an image to upload for your viewing pleasure when Lola II phoned and said I should wait until the handing-in deadline. So you'll have to hang on until mid-April.

We've booked ourselves a week of snowboarding at the beginning of April - Yippee! I've never tried snowboarding, but Mr A had a go for a day at the end of our last skiing holiday, when I was laid up with the broken leg. [No, I didn't break my leg skiing, but when we went out for a walk in icy conditions towards the end of the day.] He found the snowboard boots much more comfortable than ski boots on his mangled legs, even the ski boots that he had moulded to the shape of his shins. So we'll try learning to snowboard together, and I can go back to skiing if I don't get on with it.

Mr A's currently pretty moody about the state of the economy and the prospect of a recession, in case the bank won't lend him money. It does seem like there hasn't been much good news for a while. He went out on his bike, the water meadows were flooded so he got wet feet very early on, then managed to puncture both tyres and had to walk most of the way home through the water, plus he put his back out. On the bright side, we've been able to drown his sorrows at the Cricketers - in under two weeks it's been transformed into a friendly welcoming place, buzzing with customers, and a pleasure to visit.